How To: WARN Winch Solenoid Replacement

A while back, I asked for a source of WARN winch solenoids for my M8000 because the solenoids would stick and prevent spooling in until I rapped the solenoid box. I got some very useful responses, and I obtained a set of solenoids from DBelectrical.com Part number SMR6005. Total cost was $70 inc shipping. These solenoids are made in China, have no part number on them, but are a drop in item.

The 1st step is to remove your positive battery lead at the battery. You don't want to be arc-welding in your solenoid box! Next remove the cover using a 5/16" wrench, there are 3 screws in the side of the box.

Here is a picture of the open solenoid box. For ease of assembly I labeled the cables and their landing points with a marker.



Next, I removed the cables (don't forget the red wire from the cover to the ground point under the winch!) and bent up 2 of the 4 tabs that hold the solenoids in and removed it from the mounting plate.



Then I put it on the bench, and drew a schematic so if I walked away, I would know where the wires went. The colors correspond to the wire colors used in the box.



The solenoids use a 3/8" and a 1/2" wrench for the nuts. I replaced them 1 by 1 to prevent confusion. It is easier to loosen the 3/8" nuts before loosening the 1/2" nuts because you have something solid to hold on to.



Here is the finished solenoid array, ready to put back in the bracket, hook up and test

Ordered these last week, the shipped price is still only $71, and I had them in two days.

My only addition to your writeup is a minor catch: the parts I recieved were not quite a direct "drop in."

My old solenoids measured 1.125" tip-to-tip. The new ones are 1.375. That extra quarter-inch was enough to keep them from fitting in the tabs on the old baseplate. I eventually had to pound them all flat and drill new holes.

Not a huge deal, but it did turn an hour-long job into an all day job...


But thanks for the part number! Nothing worse than a sticky solenoid that lets you down when you need it most.

Robert

Amazon has similar for $9, look up "Mercury Marine Solenoid Relay Switch" or "Prestolite 15-400". The only difference between these Ford style solenoids is intermittent or continuous duty. Usually the resistance of the winding will be low ohms for a starter solenoid and high ohms for something continuous like glow plug relay. Probably the marine part is sealed and waterproof.

You can get genuine WARN replacement solenoids on eBay for about 17$

Ok so this was the most recent thread I could find that sort of addresses my issue. I have toasted a couple sets of standard solenoids over the past few years. I read somewhere but cannot find it now that the "factory" solenoids were 100 amp ones. This thread gave a part number for a 200 amp solenoid. Anyone ever read about that or have any info on these solenoids and there amp draw?

WB9YZU said:

Here is a picture of the open solenoid box. For ease of assembly I labeled the cables and their landing points with a marker.
Then I put it on the bench, and drew a schematic so if I walked away, I would know where the wires went. The colors correspond to the wire colors used in the box.

Click to expand...

Miswiring the box was my fear when it was disassembled to move the control plug to the front grill.The wires and cables were color codedto prevent confusion.
https://flic.kr/p/542YJv

WB9YZU said:

Here is a picture of the open solenoid box. For ease of assembly I labeled the cables and their landing points with a marker.
Then I put it on the bench, and drew a schematic so if I walked away, I would know where the wires went. The colors correspond to the wire colors used in the box.

Click to expand...

Miswiring the box was my fear when it was disassembled to move the control plug to the front grill.The wires and cables were color coded to prevent confusion.
https://flic.kr/p/542YJv
Keeping the relay box dry, mounted under the hood in the engine bay, has prevented electrical problems so far.

FWIW The PDF writeup is in the FAQ thread. It has the pictures and schematic.
-Ron